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Modernism.” 


arene R ROBERTS. 


Pv gheare 


The Story 
of 


Donhuna. 


oe Se Ot 
Pd 


Published by the 


North East India General Mission, Inc. 
1213, Pennsylvania Building, Philadelphia, Pa. 


also at 


2084, Kirkwood Avenue, Pasadena, Cal. 
Paternoster House, London, E.C.4, England. 


THE STORY OF DOHNUNA. 


WAY on the north-east frontier 
Ae Kastern Bengal and Assam are 

the Lushai Hills, an imperfectly 
explored tract of country, occupied by a 
tribe known as Lushais, a warlike race 
who are a branch of the Kuki family. 
In 1890 their country became British. 
The area is estimated at 7,230 square 
miles, and the population at 97,000. 
Here, where the wooded slopes and moun- 
tain tracts form a gorgeous background to 
the quaint and picturesque native huts, 
lived a man named Chhiinga, a headman to 
the chief of the village. Though only an 
ordinary villager, who could neither read 
nor write, Chhinga was the main spokes- 
man for his chief when the British were 
taking over that part of the country, 
which, before our story opens, was a land 
of unrest and bloodshed, causing much 
trouble to the Government. In spite of 
his ignorance and lack of learning, 
Chhinga was a keen man, and exceedingly 
wise in every way. He gave much help to 
the British Government, with the result 
that the Commandant was greatly pleased 
with him, and eventually took a keen in- 


2 


terest in his personal affairs. Within a 
few years Chhinga died, leaving an only 
son, Dohnuna, the subject of our story. 
The Commandant of the Miltary Police 
Battalion, under whose direction the work 
of taking over the Lushai Hills had been 
so successfully carried through, took a 
fatherly interest in the orphan boy, as he 
had done in his father before him. He 
took him to his own home in the Fort of 
Ayal, where he was trained both at the 
Government and at the Mission Schools. 
This was about twenty-five years ago, 
when Dohnuna was barely sixteen years of 
age. He was supported entirely by the 
Commandant, Lieutenant-Colonel G. H. 
Loch, who, although now retired, con- 
tinues to take the greatest interest in his 
adopted son, and is still in touch with him 
from England. 


DOHNUNA COMES UNDER THE 
INFLUENCE OF THE GOSPEL. 


After undergoing several years of train- 
ing at the schools mentioned, Dohnuna 
was employed by the Government, but all 
this time continued to live in the darkness 
of heathenism; and it was not until about 
a year later, when he heard that a revival 
had broker out in the Christian church, 
that the seed of the Gospel may be said 
to have gained access into his heart. With 


3 


A DI-GARO MISMHI. 
This tribe is still without the Gospel. 


the object of treating it all in a jovial 
“spirit; he entered one of the.Christian 
churches, but instead of what he intended 
to do his heart was much touched by one 
‘of the hymns which were sung. He was 
not, however, prepared to embrace 
Christianity, and returned to enjoy himself 
with his friends at the drinking den, which 
was one of the chief ‘‘ joys ’’ of these 
darkened heathen lives. All night he re- 
- mained in the den, drinking and spending 
_» the hours in frivolity till daybreak, when 


ze “the Spirit of God spoke to him in the words 
and music of the hymn he had heard the 


previous night at.the Christians’ meetings. 
' . Nothing had happened to bring this to his 

memory, butthe. Holy Spirit was at work 
apart from any instrumentality. However, 


he cast the thought aside, did not attend 


any, more meetings for ‘another twelve 
months ; but two. Christian lads; who were 
then staying in his home, seized every 
opportunity to ‘speak to him. of Christ, 
though again_and again these young soul- 
winners. were obliged “to be silent, as 
Dohnuna was not. Sot ready to respond to 
their words. «About this time he became 
very friendly with the late R.Dala, who 
later became our Field Superintendent in 
Manipur,: but who’ was himself but a 
young Christian, at that time; though fully 
yielded to the Lord, and he (Mr. Dala) 


5 


os Bars is : 


A Heathen village Chief, of whom there ee 
thousands still without a knowledge of the Gospel. 


visited his home regularly for about twelve 
months. Although Dohnuna had not the 
least desire to think about the things of 
God, yet he respected his young friend 
so much that he did not object to the 
instruction Dala gave him in spiritual 
things. Slowly, the desire to join his 
old friends at the drinking den began to 
fade away, though once he yielded to the 
old worldly pleasure, but came away 
deeply convicted by the Holy Spirit, Who 
was slowly but surely bringing this 
precious soul to a place of decision for 
God or for Satan. He began to reason in 
his heart on this wise: ‘‘ Here am I, beer- 
drinking again, and there is nothing in 
this to help me; drinking will only take me © 
to eternal damnation, but Christ promises 
~ eternal life to His followers after death.’”’ 


DOHNUNA’S CONVERSION. 


Soon after this he joined the Enquirers’ 
Class, and in 1908 he was baptized. He 
broke away, as far as he then knew, from 
all the customs of heathenism, including 
drink, and was full of enthusiasm to tell 
others about Jesus Christ and His love. 
At this time both he and Dala were clerks 
at the Government Treasury, and during 
one of their morning talks before office 
hours they determined that if possible 
they would go somewhere beyond their 


% 


own country to tell others, who were still 
without a knowledge of the Gospel, about 
their new-found joy. Dala almost imme- 
diately resigned his post under Govern- 
ment and became a mission worker, but 
Dohnuna continued his work for another 
three or four years, until he commenced 
business on his own account as a local 
merchant. He succeeded in a remarkable 
way, and in the course of two or three 
years had five large businesses under his 
control. His one aim. now was to be 
ahead of all his friends in the business 
world—not only that he himself might 
become wealthy, but that he might also 
help other Christians who were in need. 
From all reports he is said to have done 
this to a greater extent, perhaps, than any 
other person in the whole country. He 
gave most freely of his wealth to the poor 
and needy, and his home was always open 
to all who visited Ayal. All this time, 
however, the Spirit of God was working 
deeply in his heart, and leading him 
nearer to the ‘‘ call,’’ and to the sacrifice 
he was yet to face for the Master’s sake. 
He still did much for his fellow-men, and 
helped them in every possible way, but 
the pressure of ordinary yet legitimate 
things of the world seemed to keep out of 
his heart that peace which passeth all un- 
derstanding. He lacked assurance of sal- 


8 


vation; and many times did he contemplate 
giving up all in order fully to devote him- 
self to definite Christian work. He called 
his intimate Christian friends to talk. over 
the matter, but no one seemed to give him 
just the word of help he was needing. 
Sometimes it seemed as if the only path 
open to him was to renounce everything, 
give up his business life, and come right. - 
out definitely.and wholly as a worker for | 
Christ, even though this would mean less 
riches and less ability to help others finan- 
cially... His wife was even keener than he 
was, and when opening his troubled heart 
to her on the subject, she immediately 
gave him every encouragement, and calmly 
told him that for two years she had prayed 
that he might take this step. On looking 


back now, he says he owes much to her = °: 


sympathy and co-operation with him over 
the matter, when he was hesitating and 
pondering as to what he would do. | 


DOHNUNA STEPS OUT IN FAITH. 


For nearly three years previous to this 
Dohnuna had been a keen supporter of 
the (then) Thado-Kookie Pioneer Mission, 
and all the correspondence between our 
Secretary in India and our Field Super- 
intendent in the Manipur. State passed 
through his hands... Our Secretary can 
thus look back.upon twelve years of very 


9 


close and intimate friendship with him. 
He knew the inner workings of the Mission 
more than any other outside person, and 
whenever our workers visited the Lushai 
Hills they almost invariably stayed with 
him. This not unnaturally helped on his 
interest in the work, and when he knew 


=) 


Pastor Dohnuna, his wife, mother and children. 


that we were in need of a Superintendent 
for our new field in Tripura State, after 
much prayerful consideration with his 
good, devoted Christian wife, he sent an 
offer of his services to the Mission. Need- 
less to say, this was very readily accepted ; 
but there were naturally many things to 
settle. | However, once he had fully de- 
cided he lost no time, and within a few 


10 


weeks he had cleared up all his business 
affairs, had left Aijal with his family and 
was on his way on a journey of over a 
hundred miles through a country of thick 
jungles and forests, the home of wild 
elephants and tigers, and reached Tripura 
in safety. This step was a real sacrifice to 
Dohnuna, for a mission salary was a great 
contrast to his former income; but he had 
come out from business in response to what 
he was sure was the call of God, and now 
he and his wife were prepared bravely to 
face the change. 


GREAT PROGRESS IN THE WORK. 


Since his advent to this district in the 
latter part of 1917 the work has made 
remarkable progress: many new workers 
having been taken on, the Christian 
community has already increased by two 
thousand, and his systematic, business-like 
“way of handling the work has been of 
great benefit and help in all matters that 
he has organized in that State. The 
keenness that once he put into mere 
money-making efforts has now been put 
into the work of building up the 
church where he thus laboured, and his 
influence has greatly told upon the people. 

He tells us that the one message that 
truly brought about the climax of sacrifice 
in his life was a message given by Dala 


11 


FORMER DEMON-WORSHIPPERS. 


This remarkable picture represents a few from 

among nearly 8,000 converts already won for the 

Lord. Some twelve years ago most of them were 

devil-worshippers in utter heathen darkness. Their 

church is one: of many such buildings scattered 
throughout our fields. 


12 


during his visit to Lushai Hills, some 
months previously, from Romans viil., 35: 


““ Who shall separate us from the love of 
Christ ?”’ 


DOHNUNA’S EARNESTNESS. 


Our Field Director had the pleasure of 
a visit from Dohnuna, together with several 
Christians, at his home near Calcutta not 
long ago. Writing of this visit, Mr. 
Roberts says: ‘‘ His earnestness and 
reality greatly impressed those who met 
him, and more than once did he express 
his joy at being in direct and definite work 
for Christ. It touched our hearts much 
as we heard him pray with us from day 
to day, and the earnestness with which he 
pleaded for ‘ the dark country where he 
had chosen to work until Jesus comes ’ 
will not soon be forgotten. ‘ O God!’ he 
repeated, ‘ the heathen have their temples; 
the devil has his worshippers; but our 
precious Lord Jesus has not one among 
these tribes [naming the unreached tribes 
in Tripura] to worship and build a temple 
for Him.’ ”’ 


‘The foregoing account was written 
whilst Pastor H. K. Dohnuna was still 
Field Superintendent of the work in 
Tripura State, Eastern Bengal. Since 
then the Lord has seen fit to call another 


13 


of our workers, Pastor R. Dala, unto Him- 
self. This has naturally necessitated vital 
changes in the work. Pastor Dohnuna 
has, therefore, been transferred to a more 
central section, and has now been acting 
as General Superintendent of the work in 
our various fields. His natural gift for 
organising, together with his deep spiritual 
experience, and remarkable keenness for 
the spread of the Gospel, have made him 
of unusual value for this important posi- 
tion. And that the Lord very clearly led in 
this is now evident to all. Within the past 
four years, the number of our Workers 
and students has increased fourfold; the 
converts have practically doubled—the 
figure having reached nearly 8,000 at the 
end of 1925. He has taught and encour- 
aged the native churches to take a large 
share in the evangelisation of the neigh- 
bouring tribes, and has tramped several 
thousand miles over these hills in his 
efforts to extend the work. 


‘“ We praise God for what He has thus 
brought through our beloved brother and 
colleague, who was himself so recently 
converted from heathen degradation and 
darkness. Pray for him, and for the work 
which our heavenly Father has entrusted 
unto him.”’ 


14 


“THESE UNEVANGELISED 
PEOPLES.” 


Please, Dear Mr. Roberts, keep 
these unevangelised peoples before 
the Christian public, and see what 
your mission can do to reach them 
before it is too late. If I had 
half-a-dozen lives, I would like to 
spend them all in such work—and 
so would you I know.’’—Rev. J. H. 
Lorrain, one of the pioneer mission- 
aries to the Lushai Hills, where there 
are now over 30,000 Christians! 


OUR PLATFORM. 


May we draw very special attention to the fact 
that all members of our Councils, as well as all our 
Missionaries, will be expected to ANNUALLY sign a 
clearly-defined Doctrinal Basis. If at any time a change 
of beliefs should prevent such ANNUAL signature on 
the part of any, their connection with the Mission would 
automatically cease. We believe in an_ infallible 
BIBLE, and an infallible CHRIST, and in His Second 
Coming, according to the Scriptures. Copies of our 
Doctrinal Basis will be sent to any address on 
application. 


SOME OF THE MISSION’S 
PUBLICATIONS. 


The Ravages of Higher Criticism in the 
Indian Mission Fieid. 
By WATKIN R. ROBERTS. 
(10c., post free.) . 


Be 4 o& ot B43 cv 
MUSIC LEAFLETS. 


(Over 250,000 circulated.) 


1. Wounded for Me. 
2. Hast Thou seen the Crucified? 
3. Living in God. 


Free for postage only. 


& oe & a & 


{1 Cannot Pray. (booklet. ) 
By J. C, WILLIAMS. 


Specially written for those under the 
shadow of defeat. 


of & oe oe & 


Modernism in the Mission Field. 
(leaflet.) 
BASIL ATKINSON, M.A. 


i) 
Bo) 
hays 


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